The note-taking app market is crowded with apps that look free until you hit a wall — a sync device limit, a file size cap, or a paywall on search. This guide focuses on what the free tier of each major app actually lets you do, and matches each tool to the use case it genuinely serves best.
Obsidian — Best for Local-First Power Users
Obsidian (obsidian.md) stores all notes as plain Markdown files in a local folder on your device. There's no cloud account required, no sync limit, and no subscription needed to use the full application — the paid tiers are for cloud sync and publishing, not for the core editor.
What makes Obsidian distinctive is its graph view and bidirectional linking. You can create a wiki-style network of notes where each note links to related ones, and the graph view visualizes those connections. This is particularly useful for research, studying, and building a personal knowledge base over time.
The plugin ecosystem is extensive — over 1,500 community plugins handle everything from calendar views to Kanban boards to LaTeX rendering. All free.
The catch: setup takes effort. You need to understand Markdown and build your own organizational structure. If you want something that works immediately with no learning curve, Obsidian is not the right starting point.
Notion — Best for Flexible Organization (With a Real Free Tier)
Notion (notion.so) updated its free plan in 2024 to remove the page limit restriction. The free tier now allows unlimited pages and blocks, syncs across devices, and supports databases, kanban boards, and tables — the main features that make Notion useful.
The limits on the free tier worth knowing:
- Guest access is capped at 10 guests (relevant for shared workspaces, not solo use)
- File uploads are limited to 5 MB per file
- Version history is limited to 7 days (paid plans go to 90 days or unlimited)
For individual note-taking, project tracking, and personal databases, the free tier is genuinely functional. Notion's flexibility is also its complexity — it takes time to set up useful structures. If you need something fast and simple, Notion's blank-slate approach can feel like more work than it's worth.
Joplin — Best Open-Source Alternative to Evernote
Joplin (joplinapp.org) is a free, open-source note-taking app with apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. It stores notes as Markdown, supports notebooks and tags, and handles attachments including images and PDFs.
Joplin's sync works with any WebDAV service or the following for free: Dropbox, OneDrive, Joplin Cloud (with a free tier), and local folder sync via USB or any file sync service. The web clipper browser extension (Chrome and Firefox) saves web pages directly to notebooks.
Joplin is the closest open-source equivalent to Evernote's core functionality: capture anything, organize with notebooks, search across everything, sync across devices. If you're migrating away from Evernote, Joplin can import the .enex export format directly.
Apple Notes — Best If You Only Use Apple Devices
Apple Notes is built into every iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It's free, syncs instantly via iCloud, handles rich text and image embedding, and supports checklists, tables, and handwriting input on iPad. The 5 GB iCloud free tier is shared across all iCloud-using apps, but text notes are so small that storage is rarely a practical concern.
Apple Notes added collaboration features in recent iOS versions — you can share a note or folder and edit it in real time with another Apple user. The search is fast and can find text in images using OCR.
The limitation is obvious: it doesn't exist on Windows or Android. If you ever switch platforms or need to access notes on a non-Apple device, you have no straightforward path.
Google Keep — Best for Quick Captures
Google Keep (keep.google.com) is the fastest tool for capturing a thought and moving on. Open the app, type, close. Notes appear immediately on all your devices logged into Google. It supports labels, colors, reminders, and pinning, but the organization is deliberately minimal — it's not designed for long-form writing or hierarchical notebooks.
Keep is included in the Google Workspace free tier with no meaningful storage or device limits. Its strength is speed and frictionlessness for short notes, grocery lists, and quick reminders. Its weakness is anything that requires more structure than a stack of index cards.
Standard Notes — Best for Encrypted Private Notes
Standard Notes (standardnotes.com) encrypts every note end-to-end before it leaves your device, meaning the company cannot read your notes even if subpoenaed. The free tier includes unlimited notes, syncing across devices, and AES-256 encryption.
The free tier is limited to a plain text editor — no rich formatting, no tables, no images. Themes and rich text editing require a paid plan. For users who want zero-knowledge encrypted storage for sensitive text content (journal entries, credentials, private research), Standard Notes is the clearest free option.
Quick Comparison by Use Case
- Building a personal knowledge base with linked notes: Obsidian
- Project management + flexible databases: Notion (free tier)
- Open-source with good mobile apps: Joplin
- Apple-only, zero setup: Apple Notes
- Fast captures, reminders, simple lists: Google Keep
- Encrypted private notes, plain text: Standard Notes
The most common mistake is picking the most powerful option rather than the one that matches how you actually take notes. If you capture information in short bursts throughout the day, Google Keep or Apple Notes will serve you better than Obsidian regardless of Obsidian's capabilities. Start simple, then upgrade when you genuinely hit the ceiling.